MUMBAI: The exchange rate has become more favourable for Indian investors who plan to buy property in the UK following Brexit, said real estate experts.

“The UK pound has crashed and has become more attractive and affordable for the Indian investor,” Pranay Vakil, chairman of Praron Consultancy told TOI.

“The market in short run may become more attractive because of uncertainty driven by sentiments. The knee jerk reaction will be to buy. But water will find its own level, and over the next two months things will begin to stabilise,” he added.

“For both residential and commercial property, there will be short-term market volatility. Potentially, and in selective instances, pricing could come under pressure,” said Shishir Baijal, chairman and MD of Knight Frank (India).

He added, “The combination of lower prices and devaluation of the pound should draw in Indian investors looking to acquire assets in the UK. London has always been a favourite destination for Indian property buyers and it augues well for the Indian investors to make their move now.”

Anshul Jain, MD India, Cushman & Wakefield said, “For individual purchasers of properties in UK may not see any major impact in terms of value of their already bought properties, especially in economic centres of London, Glasgow, Edinburgh etc. where the fundamentals will remain strong.”

“If there is a further slide in the value of Pound in the next few months, more Indian billionaires are likely to look at buying properties in England, before any major foreign policy and trade barriers are introduced,” he added.

Jain said residential prices in UK are likely to cool down as demand for both purchase and rental will drop in the short run. “This coupled with a weaker pound could be a good opportunity for buying property in UK. For existing investors, markets are likely to be soft for some time so exit may be difficult but UK remains good for long term hold, he said.

Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of JLL India, said real estate sector in India will continue recovering on the back of a resilient Indian economy and strong capital inflows. Brexit will not disturb that recovery much, since India’s office market leasing is dependent only by 5-7% on UK-headquartered companies, and investments and activity of PE Funds from EU countries is more in India than in the UK,’’ he said.